Securing drugs is one of the easiest tasks to complete on the Deep Web
"Below the Surface: Exploring the Deep Web," discusess how the deep web is an effective market that brings buyers and dealers together. The demand for drugs is high, with an equally large audience. The deep web creates an easy place for drug dealers and buyers to come in contact and conduct business.
Light drugs, such as marijuana, were the most heavily traded goods on the deep web. Xanax and other prescription drugs were the second most popular, followed by synthetic drugs, such as MDMA (ecstasy).
The drugs are typically paid for with bitcoin, a form of online currency, that allows for extra anonymity.
This graph indicates which items were the most frequently purchased on the Deep Web. A total of 86.14% of the top ten items purchased are illegal drugs.
The most commonly sold items on the Deep Web are described in this graph. 84.22% of these items are illegal drugs. When compared to the graph of buyers above, one may conclude that this relationship works well since there are about equal amounts of buyers and sellers, so the supply can meet the demand.
One of the largest sites for online drug trafficking was the Silk Road
The Silk Road, which was founded in 2011, served as on online community where illegal drugs could be purchased or traded all across the world. Through the use of Tor, peope could log on and keep their identity untraceable and concealed. Alex Maddox describes how this created a safe environment for drug trafficking.
Why would someone resort to buying drugs online?
Better quality of drugs
Convenience
Less likely to be busted by the police when compared to buying drugs off the street
Silk Road’s founder, Ross Ulbricht, claimed the creation of the site was intended to
“’give people the freedome to make their own choices, and pursue their own happiness, how they saw individually fit.’” He turned one of the largest illegal trafficking websites and claimed it was beneficial to ones quality of life and way of living.
The FBI shut down the website in 2013, but many similar websites have been popping up ever since.